Could the Voting Rights Act Use a Bailout?
The Voting Rights Act (VRA) is under attack again. A lawsuit filed by a municipal utility district from Texas in the DC federal court regarding the VRA’s bailout provisions seems to be geared toward challenging the constitutionality of the Act itself. A bailout suit I filed recently on behalf of Essex County, Virginia, if successful, could bolster the government’s defense of the VRA in the Texas case. One provision of the Voting Rights Act requires some states and counties in the United States to send in their voting changes for review by federal authorities before they can be implemented. This is called the preclearance requirement and was added to the original Act in 1965 because Southern jurisdictions were constantly changing their voting and election procedures to avoid court orders, and thus it was felt that subjecting such changes to pre-approval by the federal government would help prevent discrimination and backsliding. The VRA also allows jurisdictions to escape or bailout out
